Based on the Italian island of Sardinia in the Mediterranean Sea, the event is considered one of the toughest gravel challenges in the FIA World Rally Championship. Temperatures can exceed 30 degrees centigrade on stages that are often narrow and technical with little margin for error, and have a sandy surface that gets swept away to expose a rough and rocky base.

Yamamoto and Kogure were taking part in the rally for the second year in succession in their GR Yaris Rally2 cars, although they had only been able to gather limited experience of the challenging stages one year ago. The pair were not entered to score WRC2 points on this event, with their goals being to build on the solid mileage gained on rough gravel on the previous round in Portugal and to improve their confidence and pace.

While Yamamoto, co-driven by James Fulton, would lose several minutes stopping to change a tyre in SS3 on Friday morning and again in SS11 on Saturday afternoon, he was able to complete all 16 stages. He also demonstrated some promising pace and was eighth fastest in class across the final day on Sunday, despite a moment over a blind crest that had also caught out the outright rally winner, Sébastien Ogier.

Kogure suffered an early setback when he hit a bridge in SS2 on Friday morning and damaged the right-rear corner of the car, preventing him and co-driver Topi Luhtinen from driving the rest of the day’s stages. He also picked up damage following a compression in Saturday’s first stage, but built his confidence and speed over the rest of the day. Unfortunately, his rally would end early in Sunday’s penultimate stage when he ran deep in a left-hand bend and got stuck in a ditch.

Quotes:
Juho Hänninen (TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRC Challenge Program instructor):
“Sardinia is always a tough rally but Yuki had a good solid weekend. Unfortunately he had two punctures, one of which was due to having too wide a line, and those cost him any chance of a good result. But some of his stage times were encouraging, some of the best we have seen so far and a step forward from Portugal, which is what we wanted to see. For Hikaru it was a more difficult weekend. His early retirement on Friday meant that it took time on Saturday for him to build up his confidence, and then his Sunday ended early. On the other hand, he felt more confident with the car which will help looking forward to the next rally in Greece.”

Hikaru Kogure:
“It was a pity what happened on Friday, it was a stupid mistake. There was a narrow bridge on the exit of a corner, and with another car stopped on the inside, I maybe lost focus and we hit the right-rear corner against the bridge. We missed a lot of mileage because we couldn’t continue the day, but Saturday was better. The rally didn’t end how I wanted it to on Sunday, but I was feeling more and more comfortable, stage by stage. Of course, the result was not good, but I am happy with my feeling and will work to be ready for Greece.”

Yuki Yamamoto:
“I’m really happy to have finished this rally for the first time. It was a really rough, tough and hot weekend. Everything was quite intense but I think we managed it really well. Except for the two punctures, which cost us some time overall, I think it was a really positive weekend for us. We showed some good pace and progress and learned quite a lot. Especially on the second run through stages, once I could confirm that the pacenotes are working on the first pass, I had good confidence to push. So I think we can be happy with our weekend and I feel ready for the next rally in Greece.”